More drivers running red light cameras in Spokane

If you've been caught running a red light this year, you're not alone. The number of tickets this year compared to last year is up more than 1,000.

The red light cameras were designed so people would not run red lights and be more aware when going through an intersection. That's not always the case.

Intersections like Thor and 2nd Avenue westbound had 520 tickets from the red light cameras last year-to-date. This year it's already close to 900. It's a trend seen all across the city.

"Some went down, some went up, and honestly it's hard to attribute that to anything specific," Spokane Police Officer Teresa Fuller said.

The three worst intersections are Sprague and Browne, 2nd and Thor westbound and southbound Division and Francis. Just those three intersections saw an increase of almost 1,200 tickets.

"I honestly don't know what [caused] the increase, it could be an increase in traffic volume, it could be people moving, you know if we've got one specific intersection closed like Nevada and Francis, that traffic may bleed over into Francis and Division creating more volume," Fuller said.

The City of Spokane has made more than $1 Million off red light cameras so far this year, 25-percent more than last year at this time. The profit goes to sidewalk building and traffic calming projects like the bike lanes and parking spots added in the Logan neighborhood.

Some people tend to claim red light cameras are faster from yellow to red than others. Officer Fuller said that if anything there's actually longer time between the lights on red light camera intersections.